Ogiwara Kenji

Date of Birth

20 December 1969

Place of Birth

Gunma

Ogiwara Kenji is one of the best Nordic skiers and first man to win two titles in the same tournamant in Japan. He has a younger brother, Tsugiharu. When they were junior high school students, they won the first and second prize in the Nordic ski championship. They became famous as the "Ogiwara kyoudai".

In 1987, he entered Waseda University and he participated in the World Cup when he was a freshman. In 1989 and 1991, he won the first prize two times in Universiad (Sophia and Sapporo). At the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, he won seventh prize. In February 1993, he won two titles, team and personal, in the World Nordic Championship. His first gold medal is the Nordic in the Albertville Winter Olympics with his teammates, Kono and Mikata. He also won the gold medal in Lillehammer with Kono and Abe.

He and other Japanese athletes were the first in the world to perfect a new jump with the skis pointing outward in a "V" style. This allows the jumper to glide through the air further. But he has been feeling difficulty in jumping since November, 1996 and has tried many things to get back into form.

Many Japanese people hope him to win the first prize in Nagano Winter Olympic games.

And in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, though all people in Japan cheered hard for him and he tried very hard, he only won fourth prize.

Now he is twenty-eight years old. But he doesn't give up and he continues to ski.